Outdoor Guide

[jickham]

Hey guys how you all doing?

I was just wondering on choosing a career path in the outdoors as it is something I'm very passionate about and feel I would do well doing something I love!
Maybe an outdoor / hiking guide or something thereabouts.
If any of you are in this industry could you please share your thoughts on it?
Such as what qualifications you need and how much experience you need?

Thanks

[Nuts]

Hi jickham, you need a senior first aid certificate and (for bushwalking) a sound pair of knees. Other than that, most of the routines are very specific to the activity and area and mostly imo best learn't 'on the job'.
A steep leaning curve. An apex with a deceptively long tail... anything specifically you need to know just ask, there are a few guides kicking around the forums.

[taswegian]

I'm not a guide but I guess as its a 'people' thing, besides 'a sound pair of knees' you would need tough skin and the temperament to go with it.
Bit like being a waiter - you meet some 'interesting people'!

[jickham]

Well I have worked at a phone store for about a year so I think I am more than capable with talkin to people and I consider myself an extremely patient person which is always a virtue .

I think tough skin comes with a bit of experience, and whilst I've done a few hikes I haven't done anywhere near as many as I want to so theres room for improvement there.

I figured I needed a first aid qualification, the only thing that concerns me is I want a course which teaches me to understand first aid, rather than just pass an easy course. I hear St John's has a fairly decent course.

[kyle]

Maybe check out some Outdoor Education stuff? And http://www.equip.com.au/ run proper wilderness first aid courses around the country.

[stepbystep]

I've had dealings with these people http://www.benchmarquegroup.com.au/firs ... .php?id=20 very professional.

There's other info here about courses related to guiding viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3502&hilit=tafe for one

[climberman]

TAFE in vic and nsw offer a course for guiding, eg: http://www.wodongatafe.edu.au/courses/c ... ation.aspx

I have friends who have done the NSW course out of Blue Mts TAFE and they enjoyed it (well, they did also meet there, and are now married with two littlies !).

I think there is also a course in Tas.

Each area seems to focus on different specialties depending on what is nearby.

HAve fun and good luck.

[jcr_au]

You mention you've done a bit of walking, but have you been on a guided walk to see what is needed.

Of the ones I've been on the guides, as well as knowing about walking & pack carrying, have had a great depth of knowledge of the botany & geology of the areas in question, and a pretty good knowledge of the local history

[Stibb]

I don't want to put down your ambitions to make your passion your job but just my 2c from a similar personal experience.

I love diving, always been passionate about the ocean and wanted to be out there full time. What to do? Well, I did a whole lot of very expensive courses and became an instructor. What better way to spend your time than to bring other people out there and get paid for something you love to do? So far so good. Turned out the responsibility and the grind with dealing with people most of the time and everything around in the business turned me completely off. And to be honest, I'm not a people person. Don't even like people much (it started off well enough but now I'm almost a hermit ). I quit and didn't dive for a long time. Couldn't relax and enjoy it.

I would think being a wilderness guide and dive master/instructor is very similar. It's mostly about being a people person. If you are, great and good luck. Go for it. If it's a way to get paid to be out there, maybe think again. There are other ways. After years of floundering I ended up taking a completely different approach and now spend my days with very intelligent molluscs rather than obnoxious people

[taswegian]

I concur fully with jcr_au comments re knowledge.
I cringe at some of the rubbish I hear on the streets here in my home town and even in past in visitor information centre.
Some of the 'information' was quite absurd and plain false.
Its all well meaning, but if its cow manure then it aint worth a cracker.

[Joel]

Cradle Mt Lodge is looking for a guide on a 6 month contract. Accomodation and food provided.

You need a Light Rigid License, Public Vehicle license and senior first aid.
Check out the add on seek.com and apply. It's not all beer and skittles, but a pretty cool job. Mainly night shifts, doing a short arvo walk up Marions or Crater Lake, followed by 45 minute rainforest interpretive talk to the guests, then history slide show and night spotting tours. You don't finish until 11:45pm.

Pm me if you want more information or ring the lodge.

[jickham]

Cradle Mt Lodge is looking for a guide on a 6 month contract. Accomodation and food provided.

You need a Light Rigid License, Public Vehicle license and senior first aid.
Check out the add on seek.com and apply. It's not all beer and skittles, but a pretty cool job. Mainly night shifts, doing a short arvo walk up Marions or Crater Lake, followed by 45 minute rainforest interpretive talk to the guests, then history slide show and night spotting tours. You don't finish until 11:45pm.

Pm me if you want more information or ring the lodge.

I won't be able to apply for it yet because I'm in Melbourne for the next four months, but I'll definately look into it just to see what they are after. I am really after those basic requirements that I can start approaching companies with. I think books would be a good start as well, just on the natural flaura, fauna, nature, weeds, culture, history etc.

I concur fully with jcr_au comments re knowledge.


I cringe at some of the rubbish I hear on the streets here in my home town and even in past in visitor information centre.
Some of the 'information' was quite absurd and plain false.
Its all well meaning, but if its cow manure then it aint worth a cracker.

I'll make sure I learn all the correct information so I'm not telling fibs

I don't want to put down your ambitions to make your passion your job but just my 2c from a similar personal experience.

I love diving, always been passionate about the ocean and wanted to be out there full time. What to do? Well, I did a whole lot of very expensive courses and became an instructor. What better way to spend your time than to bring other people out there and get paid for something you love to do? So far so good. Turned out the responsibility and the grind with dealing with people most of the time and everything around in the business turned me completely off. And to be honest, I'm not a people person. Don't even like people much (it started off well enough but now I'm almost a hermit ). I quit and didn't dive for a long time. Couldn't relax and enjoy it.

I would think being a wilderness guide and dive master/instructor is very similar. It's mostly about being a people person. If you are, great and good luck. Go for it. If it's a way to get paid to be out there, maybe think again. There are other ways. After years of floundering I ended up taking a completely different approach and now spend my days with very intelligent molluscs rather than obnoxious people

I'll watch out for that! If it starts annoying me I'll take evasive action! haha

[mikethepike]

A helpful place to go on-line is: Australia New Zealand Outdoor Adventure Forum. It's for people working/training in the outdoor recreation industry and you should find it useful. And on that site, you'll also find that working in the outdoor adventure industry can be a good life for a while at least but also that it is not always a bed of roses with regards to working conditions, regular employment and a regular income. But employment in the industry will certainly be good fun and challenging for as long as you like and you'll get to meet lots of mainly nice people. All the best!

[Gusto]

I agree with the comments that you need to willing to work with people.

As I am unsure of your age and prior experiences then some of my advice may not suit you.

Firstly some questions you need to think about, your answers to these may steer you to what job your are looking for:
A) Do you want to work with children or adults?
B) Are you willing to work overnight? or are you just wanting a day job.
C) Are you willing wanting a job that you can do an then drive home every night?
D) Do you want to work expeditions or be based at a centre?
E) Are you interested in "Outdoor Recreation" or "Environmental Education". I.e. do you want to share with people a fun sport in nature or do you want to share with others the beauty and importance of nature. If you answer yes to both of these then you perhaps describe yours self as being interested in Outdoors Education.
F) What kind of pay would you be hoping to get? - A bit of a harsh question. If your young then it probably doesn't matter. However, typically Outdoors Guides are rather low paid when compared to the work of a school teach for example.
G) Do you have a partner or family that may be affected by you working expeditions/overnights etc?
H) Are you wanting full time employment or would you like to free lance and work for many companies/schools/organisations doing a variety of trips.
I) Are you interested in any particular pursuits, eg. bushwalking, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, skiiing, climbing etc?.
J) Interested in working in the tourism sector?



Secondly, there are lots of jobs in the Outdoors Industry. If you're motivated and passionate you are bound to get one. A key reason for this is because the working life span of a guide is typically quite short. Subsequently there is a constant turn over of staff and many opportunities to find a job. Reading job ads is a good way to work out what qualifications you think you need to get. Some good places to do this are:
http://www.adventurepro.com.au/outdoorjobs/
http://www.voea.vic.edu.au/employment/index.html
http://www.cooeeads.com.au/
http://www.oric.org.au/Employment/index.htm
http://www.tourismalliance.com.au/tourismalliance/index.html
http://www.oeg.net.au/ and http://www.outwardbound.com.au/ http://www.camps.ymca.org.au(Some of the biggest employers that work with Schools)


Thirdly, there are many full time courses you can do, ranging from 1-4 years. Victoria has the most options:
A) One year courses: TAFE cert III or cert IV in Sport and Outdoor Recreation. Or a post grad Uni Dip in Outdoor Education
B) Two year courses: TAFE cert IV or Diploma in Sport and Outdoor Recreation.
C) Three year course: University degrees with a focus on Outdoor Ed or Rec or Nature or Environmental Studies or Eco tourism etc.
D) Four year courses: Education (School Teaching) degree with a focus on Outdoor Ed or P.E. and Outdoor Ed, (or even just a Dip Ed year after completing a 3 yr degree)
E) Five year courses: It's common for people to do 2 years at TAFE doing a Diploma of Spor & Outdoor Rec. then decide that they want to go to uni to combine it with something else such as a 4 year Outdoor education degree. Often these students can be apply to gain credit for subjects and reduce the 4 years down to 3 or 3.5.

Since your in Melb, some training institutions worth checking out are: Homesglen TAFE, Gordon Institute, Chisholm TAFE, Monash Uni, Latrobe Uni, Ballarat Uni, Vic Uni, Halls Outdoor Education, Mansfield Adult Centre of Education (MACE) and Murrindindi Training Institute (MTI).


Fourthly, other training/employment options are to:
A) To do a traineeship in Sport & Outdoor Recreation, 1 or 2 years in length. There aren't many of these and they aren't well advertised. However essentially you would get paid to work and study a TAFE cert in Sport and Outdoor Rec. A mix of on the job training and and tafe classes/trips etc. A great option as you get to work with people/clients as an assistant instructor
B) Just do short courses in only the specific qualifications that interest you.

Fifthly, some commonly desired/preferred specific quals are:
A) First Aid. If you want to do expeditions then a 7 day Wilderness First Aid course is needed.
B) Light Rigid Drivers Licence. So you can drive a mini bus.
C) Bronze Medalion or Pool Life Guard.
D) Working with Childrens Check
E) Level One flatwater canoeing/kayaking instructor.


My comments are based on my knowledge/experience of the industry. I have been working in the "Outdoors Sector/Industry" since 2006. Mostly only casually as I was studying Education at uni 2007-2010. I am currently full time employed as a Youth Worker/Outdoors instructor doing hiking expeditions of typically about 9 days duration. I do also do residential style programs at a camp. In a standard school term I'll sleep about 20-25 nights where I am responsible for young people. (This is quite a low amount of over night work when compared to expedition Guides that work for other organisations.)

feel free to ask any more specific questions. I hope I was helpful

Last edited by Gusto on Sun 09 Oct, 2011 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Gusto]

Another two thoughts:

A) The best paid people in the outdoors sector usually work for a government agency or are employed directly by a school as a teacher.

B) The industry is very much focused on being personable and knowing people. Volunteering for charitable camps or just contacting an employer and asking to voluntarily be a staff junior staff member on a program is a great way to gain experience and meet people and show them who you are.

[tryggvirafn]

Thanks for the great information. It has been an immense resource for me.

best,
William

[icemancometh]

At the end of the day it's a customer service job. The walking bit is just a small part of it.

You have duty of care and need to ensure not just physical but emotional and psychological welfare of your clients and you don't get paid enough for it. It's also hard work and you're not getting paid to walk if that's what you're thinking. That said, it can help you build a good fitness base and the good/lucky ones go on to start their own business which is where the money is if that's your thing.

Applies to all guides be it climbing, diving, walking, the activity is why your clients and you are there but that's the easy (relatively) part of the job

[Nuts]

the good/lucky ones go on to start their own business which is where the money is if that's your thing.

i would save a lot of heartache, pain and lifesavings and quash this rumor right away.

Maybe a business somehow linked to education but tourism is a real gamble. Even leading a market can be a business on the verge of charity.
Competitive new permits are a pen stroke away, no-one cares or is accountable for what happens from there. Guiding is a carefree lifestyle, starting out on your own is just the opposite. The overheads bring out societies freeloaders of all shapes and forms. I can only laugh as some new accreditation, regulation or qualification (including associated fees & hoops of course) is deemed 'necessary' with a hasty set of associated reasoning by people who i'd swear have NFI. If anyone thinks tourism is a sustainable alternate to primary industry, remember that these are almost always partnerships with government management authorities (a boss by any other name) and subject to their usual inefficiencies... it will continue to lumber along as is long into our banana republic era..

Last edited by Nuts on Tue 24 Jan, 2012 5:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[wayno]

join a club and become a trip leader to get some feel for what it's like , although it's still not the same thing.
it's a different ball game when you're responsible for other people. either you'll cope with it or it will just put you off the activity if you like the activity for the ability to get away from lifes responsibilities.... and its not a nine to five job, you've got to find the energy to look after your clients for long hours even when you're tired and want to relax instead.
some people opt for being hut wardens. they are in the outdoors but get more time to themselves as they go about their work